I sit in one of the divesYou know the rest. And it's all, or almost all, wrong, really, though it comes to mind so forcefully. I'm not on 52d Street -- thank God -- and I'm neither more uncertain nor more afraid than usual. Rather less, if anything. It's not the end of a decade, and there's been nothing you could really call clever for quite some time now.
On Fifty-second Street
Uncertain and afraid
As the clever hopes expire
Of a low dishonest decade...
Dishonest, yes, and low, low, low. Plenty of that. Never a shortage.
As I sit here preparing to say a very willing goodbye to a very shabby year, Uncle Sam's beloved serial-killer nephew in the Middle East continues to rain explosives on the people of Gaza. The New York Times publishes an op-ed by Benny Morris -- Benny Morris! -- explaining why Israel is so "frightened." Mister Clever Hope Obama has given the massacre as clear and bright a green light as any blood-simple gang of thugs could hope for.
And of course the American "peace" movement is -- keeping its peace.
But look on the bright side. Hamas will recover, but house prices probably never will, in my lifetime anyway, and people like this...
... are really, really pissed off.
Clio is a cruel goddess, but she's not all bad. She likes to give us the odd Cervantean belly laugh in the course of her operations.
Happy New Year, one and all.
No, seriously.
Comments (2)
Apt year-end comment, Michaal. Thank you for keeping our spirits up (or down with style)over the last few years.
I'm hoping it's not just the end of a decade (eight years of Bush and two of Clinton), but of an era (30 yrs of neo-liberalism) and of the fantasy of a "two-state solution."
As a glass-half-full person, I'm looking forward to some "creative destruction" in the next few years.
Posted by seneca | January 1, 2009 3:33 PM
Posted on January 1, 2009 15:33
Clio's a bitch in heat. Happy New Year.
Posted by peter | January 1, 2009 7:56 PM
Posted on January 1, 2009 19:56